RP: Virtus Fabulae/Clarity
Another side tale from the massively spanning RP and universe known as Virtus Fabulae. The following takes place roughly two weeks before Kaiden Wilde's arrival to the town, and three from the destruction of the Slip Portal to the east, in Oakendrail. The sign upon the entrance of the suburb was weathered away, one of the E's on "Three" gone, bits and pieces of the oak wood sign lying upon the ground near it. The town was small; as all suburbs were. It was a short drive to Oakendrail, worth at least an hour of walking, though. One could only see the dim red glow that the larger city gave off from its' Slip Portal. The scavenger trudged up the cracked, charred, and eroded pavement into the outskirts of the city. It had once been a lovely community with all of the commodities one would ever need. It was quite costly to live there in the days before, though, due to its tight knit community and the best quality of anything one might need. Elderly folks usually lived there, outside of the bustling city, the entire village less than a mile across. The scavenger looked over to an old, two story building. It was roughly rectangular, the entire building composed of brick; columns of stone on its corners. "Jeffrey, should we go inside?", the scavenger asked. One might have taken notice of his strange attire, purple capri pants and a leather jacket, some sandals with socks over them and a cold weather Ushanka over the survivor's head. He was dark skinned, his hair a dark black, matted mess with an overgrown beard. No one responded. "Okay then, friend.", he smiled and commented, walking to the entrance, the wooden doors now splintered and broken, still closed after all these years. "Jeffrey, could you get the door for me?", he continued to ask, nodding towards the air and stepping towards the door. He reared back and bashed it once, the frail and weak structure shrugging itself aside with the impact. The scavenger fell down upon the dusty ground, shards of glass sticking into his poorly protected legs. "AUGH!", he yelled. His face turning from that of pain to one of shock, he stood up and looked towards the spot where he had just been. "Jeffrey, old' buddy, are you okay?", he asked towards the spot on the ground, extending his hand towards the floor. The waster grunted as he leaned up, a man grasping his hands in pain as he got up. The man, presumably Jeffrey, was that of a clean cut, blonde haired man with deep, piercing blue eyes and a formal suit on. It was clean - cleaner than any other wastelander's attire, being that it appeared to have just been washed. The suit was a pinstriped, dark gray one, a bright red tie hanging from Jeffrey's white, collared shirt. "I'm fine, Ralph!", Jeffrey spoke to him, giving the scavenger - named Ralph, a kind smile. Ralph walked behind Jeffrey, examining his legs. "I don't know, Jeff. That looks pretty bad. How about I help you get t-", Ralph started, Jeffrey wincing and cursing out in pain as he tried to lift his leg to prove the point. "Here, I'll pull them out for you old friend.", Ralph stated, grabbing one of the shards of glass and pulling it out of Jeffrey, who gasped in pain, falling back unto the ground once more. This time, however, he fell against the ground and knocked his head on a desk, a massive gash appearing in the clean cut, suit-wearing survivor's head as he tumbled to the ground, his arm knocking against a cracked floor lamp, the lamp falling unto Jeff's thy and shattering, shards flying into this stomach. Jeffrey cried out in pain as the massive, curved piece of glass tore through his white shirt, embedding itself into his stomach. "Jeff, no!", Ralph screamed, Jeff standing back up again with vigor in his heart. "I'm not hurt, my friend. There's nothing good in here. We need to keep moving, this town and anywhere near it aren't safe, Ralph.", Jeff replied to Ralph, placing his clean hand on Ralph's grimy shoulder. Ralph nodded, confident in his all-knowing partner's abilities. He held the door open for Jeffrey, the man clenching his stomach as blood appeared on his hand. "C'mon, don't mind that.", Jeff told Ralph, walking back unto the street. The sky was barely starting to dim as Ralph and his friend walked outside, Jeff leaving a trail of blood as he walked out into the middle of the street. "Ralph?", Jeff asked Ralph as the grimy wastelander joined his side. Ralph looked over at Jeff. "Yeah?", he asked, rubbing his hands together as if cold. "Do you have hope?", Jeffrey asked as the duo walked down the grey road. Ralph smiled and gave a slight chuckle. "What do you mean?", he questioned. Jeff looked over to him and tugged his coat over the claret spilling unto his white coat. "Hope, Ralphie. Without it, what is there to live for?", Jeff said, Ralph nodding slowly as he noted what his wise friend had been saying. "Friend, I need to rest. Let's... Let's go sit over there.", Jeff stated, starting to veer towards the left, towards a small area under the overhang of a three story building marked Tom's Coffee Shop n' Bed. Trudging unto the cracked sidewalk, Jeff turned and slumped down against the wall, Ralph right behind him. "Ralph...", Jeffrey stated, clenching his bleeding stomach. Ralph looked over to his friend and smiled weakly. He felt tired, too. "Yes, Jeff?", he asked his old friend. "I need to ask you something.", Jeff started, pulling the glass shard out of his torso and placing the claret tinted object unto the concrete. "What is it?", Ralph asked. Jeff looked up at the ceiling of the overhang. "You have hope, right?", Jeff asked him casually. Ralph nodded at Jeff. "Tell me like you mean it, Ralph.", Jeff continued. Ralphed raised an eyebrow and said. "I do have hope. Hope is what drives me on, what keeps me going in this world. Without hope, I doubt I would be here right now.", he started. "And without hope, I doubt you would be here either, Jeff. Do you have hope, old friend?", Ralph asked, looking over to his friend. There was nothing but the shard of glass on the ground. "Yes we do, Ralph.", he heard Jeff say. Ralph looked down at his stomach, and saw that his raggedy clothes were tainted with blood. The energy drained out of him as he leaned his head back to take a rest, and closed his eyes.